Vienna - A court in Austria has thrown out a suit brought on
behalf of a baby born with a deformed spine aimed at acknowledging
his dignity of life, local media reported Thursday.
The lawsuit against the Austrian state was brought in the name of
baby Emil Karg, who was born last August with an incompletely-formed
spinal chord.
Emil's parents, Sabine and Andreas Karg, were seeking to overturn
a separate Supreme Court ruling from last March which awarded damages
to the mother of a child born with the same condition, after doctors
failed to detect the abnormality before birth.
After a Vienna court threw out Emil's lawsuit on formal
grounds,the family's lawyer Paul Sutterluety said that he planned to
appeal and would bring the case before the human rights court in
Strasbourg if his efforts in Austria brought no results.
'The fact that the birth and existence of a child can result in a
damage claim for alimony inevitably leads to labelling the child as
damaged,' Sutterluety was quoted by Austrian media as saying.
The Vienna court argued that it could only award financial damages
in Emil's case but was in no position to rule on the alleged
infringement of human dignity.
Emil is in good health, considering his condition, and weighs 8.5
kilograms, according to his parents who live in Lochau in western
Austria.
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